"And you can grab Carden after lifting right?" Rae asks over her shoulder, digging in her locker for her folder.
"Yes ma'am. And you'll be done with work at 9?" He asks, reaching over her shoulder and pulling it out for her. She gives him a grateful smile.
"I will." She confirms. He grins.
"Good. My house for tacos when you're done. Ill save you some." He promises. She raises an eyebrow.
"Tim Riggins is cooking me tacos?" She asks skeptically.
"Ok, Billy's making the tacos, but I'll cut the lettuce and tomatoes!" He relents. She grins and kisses his cheek.
"Don't cut your finger like last time." She chides in an amused tone and he rolls his eyes, exasperated.
"That was one time!" He protests. She grins and shakes her head, pulling him towards his classroom.
"Billy, I'm home!" He yells, dropping his bag on the floor with a loud 'thunk'. Carden follows after him, dropping his own bag.
"What? Is that my baby brother? Actually in his house? Where his flesh and blood brother has raised him? Finally done playing house with that little woman of yours?" Billy calls, tone filled with sarcasm. Carden looks up Tim, who flinches. Billy walks out of the bathroom and spots Carden.
"Hi Billy." Carden says, cheerfully waving.
"Shit." Billy says, rubbing his forehead. "You brought the kid home?" He demands of Tim, who shrugs.
"Lifting gets done the same time as his spring practice. I grab him since Rae is at work. Cause she actually has a job." He says flatly. "C'mon Car, we can go play video games until Rae gets home and yells at us to do homework." He says, leading Carden to his room.
"Billy doesn't like me." Carden says thoughtfully, looking up from his homework while Rae eats her leftover taco.
"Why do you say that?" Tim asks. Carden rolls his eyes.
"Because he calls me 'the kid'." He reminds him. "I mean, I'm not sure about Texas, but in Minnesota, that isn't exactly a term of endearment."
"Honestly?" Rae demands, looking at Tim, who shrugs helplessly.
"Oh, and he called you 'Tim's little woman'." Carden informs her, grinning. Rae's jaw drops in indignation.
"That is so condescending!" She rages. "Tim, how come you didn't say anything to him? He can't call me that!"
"Dude, are you trying to get me beat up?" Tim says, throwing his eraser at him. Carden ducks it, laughing. Rae is fuming.
"If he doesn't want us over we don't have to come. Simple as that." She says through gritted teeth. Tim gets up and takes her dirty plate, kissing her head.
"Shut up and help me with chemistry." He says. She smiles slightly. "Little woman." He teases and she gasps, throwing a pencil at him.
"Tim, Carden is gonna be home soon." Rae mummers, kissing him again. Tim pays her no attention, just scratches his nails across her lower back. She moans softly and bites his earlobe.
"He can wait outside." He says gruffly, pulling her onto his lap. She laughs slightly, tangling her fingers in his hair and kissing him again. He's reaching up to unclasp her bra when they hear the voices of a couple boys outside, but getting closer. Rae sits straight up, wide eyed.
"Carden." She hisses then hastily climbs off of his lap and arranges herself back onto the couch, bright red.
"Rae!" He hisses, gesturing to his lap. She realizes what situation he's in and stares at him, mouth round in panic. She throws her legs over his lap, just as the door opens and Carden and his buddies spill in.
"Hi Car!" Rae says, too loud and bright.
"Hey Mais, Tim." Carden says without looking at them, bee lining straight for the kitchen. His buddies however hang back, staring at the couple on the couch, mouths' hanging open.
"You're Tim Riggins!" One says and Tim looks at Rae then nods slowly. She covers her face with her hands, silently laughing.
"Yeah, that's me." He says, awkwardly patting Rae's leg, unsure of what else to do with his hands.
"Fullback for the Dillon Panthers!" The other says, awed.
"Can we see your state ring?" The first one pleads.
"Uh, yeah, she has it." Tim mutters, gesturing to Rae, who smiles and pulls her necklace out. On a long chain dangles the state ring.
"Dude, your sister has Tim Riggins's state ring?" One whispers to Carden reverently. He rolls his eyes, unimpressed, munching from a bag of chips.
"Cause if he wore it working on his truck he'd probably break it, Joey." Carden says, as if it should be obvious.
"Winning state must've been so hard." The other boy says, wide eyed, not even blinking.
"Yeah, pretty hard." Tim says, through gritted teeth. Rae is teasing his hipbone gently, where the boys can't see it. She smiles serenely.
"Well, Joey and Brett were just stopping by for a snack." Carden says, trying to pull them into the kitchen. When they're distracted protesting that they want to talk to Tim, he lunges at Rae, tickling her. She shrieks, laughing.
"You have Tim Riggins on your couch! How come you never told us that he was your sister's boyfriend?!" Brett demands, making Carden sigh.
"Cause he's not the superstar fullback when he's here. He just makes me pancakes and forgets to put the cap on the toothpaste." Carden informs them, only causing their excitement to grow.
"Do you think he'll throw the football with us?" Joey asks, practically bouncing up and down in his excitement. With a heavy sigh Carden resigns himself to the fact that Tim is their idol and drags his feet back into the living room.
"Tim, will you throw the football?" He asks, as if it pains him to do so. Tim looks up from tickling his sister.
"You boys might want to give Timmy a quick break. He needs to uh, settle down, from all of this excitement." Rae says cheerfully, from beneath Tim. Tim glares down at her, not amused.
"Whatever that means." Carden says, grabbing the football. "C'mon guys, he'll be out soon." When they're finally outside, Rae grabs Tim and pulls him down for one long kiss.
"Go play with your little fans." She says softly.
"I don't want to." He whines, rubbing her side. She laughs, squirming out of his grasp.
"They adore you. Go throw it with them. It'd make their whole summer." She says, kissing his cheek. He pouts then gets up. "You know what I don't get?" She asks thoughtfully.
"Why you're kicking your boyfriend out of the house to go throw a football with three middle schoolers in 100 degree weather?" He suggests, unbuttoning his shirt and grabbing his hat. She smiles, shaking her head.
"Why Carden doesn't go running around telling his entire school that the star of the Panthers is the guy that gets him ready in the morning and teaches him how to break a tackle." She says, biting her lip. "I mean, Joey and Brett were so amazed to see you. He could have a lot more friends if he just flaunted you."
"Maybe he realizes how uncool I actually am." Tim says, kissing her head. She swats his butt impishly.
"I like it when you wear your hat backwards like that. Makes you look like a Minnesota hockey boy." She teases and he pauses in the doorway with an eyebrow raised.
"I'm from Texas and don't you forget it." He orders.
"Go play football Tim Riggins, I'll make you some nice cold lemonade for when you come in, hot and crabby." She calls, teasing. The boys cheer loudly when Tim comes outside. She grins, watching him play with them and how Carden lights up when Tim praises him.
"This is the big lake you were so excited about?" She asks, looking around, unimpressed. He gapes at her. "I'm sorry sweetie." She insists, patting his cheek. "It's just, where I come from, lakes are so big you can't see the other sides of them. This is hardly a pond. More like a puddle. I've seen puddles bigger than this actually, especially when all the snow melts-"
"Rae, do you want to go on a boat or not?" He demands, cutting off her ramblings about lakes.
"Is it an actual boat or just a row boat?" She asks, looking around suspiciously. Tim rolls his eyes and tosses her over his shoulder, despite her protests. "Oh, it is a real boat." She says, delighted, once he sets her down. They putt to the middle and drop anchor. Rae dives off the front and floats happily in the water, eyes closed. Tim watches her, smiling.
"Your birthday is coming up." He reminds her, pulling a beer out of the cooler and she makes a face.
"Another year older, what a joy." She says sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I'm still in Texas, so I'm still in hell."
"You got any plans made yet?" He questions, ignoring the jab about Texas automatically.
"Yeah, dad's gonna come home from the oil fields and take Car and I out for a big supper, to celebrate all my achievements." She snickers.
"Well, I got something in mind." Tim says, reclining with a mischievous smile. Rae swims up to the side and heaves herself up.
"Yeah? Whatca thinking?" She asks curiously, getting her own beer out of the cooler and stretching out to dry off in the sun.
"There's an ice skating rink in Austin. I figured it would be my birthday present to you and Car, since his is right before yours. It's five bucks to rent skates, so I figured that and gas and supper, you might have to use some of your work money." Tim says, watching her carefully for a reaction.
"Sweetie, I'm from Minnesota and Carden has been playing hockey since he was 3. It'll be 5 dollars to rent skates for you." She scoffs, standing up.
"So do you like the idea?" He asks, nervously.
"Put your beer down." She states calmly.
"Why?" He asks nervously. She just points to the table and slowly he does as told. She gestures for him to stand and he does. Then she squeals, running for him, tackling him right off the boat and into the water.
"BEST BIRTHDAY IDEA EVER!" She yells, kissing him in the water. He grins and hugs her, then dunks her. She comes up, spluttering.
"That was for tackling me." He says sternly. "But you did have nice form." He compliments, grabbing her butt. She laughs, trying to dunk him to no avail. They spend the entire day floating on the lake, talking about football and the upcoming season.
"Do you like your new coach?" Rae asks curiously, curled up in his side, wearing one of his oversized Dillon Panthers sweatshirts as the sun slowly starts to sink. He shrugs, making a noncommittal noise.
"He's not Coach Taylor." He says carefully. Rae looks up at him.
"You can tell me what you're feeling mister." She reminds him gently. He just shakes his head.
"It sucks that Coach left us after state. We just weren't good enough for him." He grumbles, moodily spinning his beer can. Rae climbs onto his lap, holding his face sternly.
"Tim Riggins, you know that's not reason. You are good enough for him." She says fiercely. He smiles slightly, hugging her.
"How come you always know how to make me feel better?" He mutters, kissing her nose.
"Cause I'm perfect." Rae says smugly, flipping her hair. He laughs and raises an eyebrow.
"I believe I'm the star fullback of the state champions." He teases, flicking the logo on the sweatshirt.
"Who only played cause I tutored his ass off every single day!" She protests, smacking his hands.
"You made me pull weeds for the first hour!" He reminds her, affronted. She smiles sweetly.
"And look who got a B- on that oral exam. If you weren't so stubborn my yard wouldn't look so good!" She says then squeals in protest when he picks her up and dangles her threateningly over the side of the boat.
"Says the 200 pound bundle of sass in a 100 pound girl." He says, bringing her back over the rail. She stretches onto the tips of her toes, kissing him softly.
"Too bad I'm your ball of sass." She whispers. He tilts his head, grinning.
"Prove it." He challenges. She smiles smugly and holds up her crossed fingers. He laughs and shakes his head.
"I knew I had you right where I wanted you the first time I did that." She says, turning and pressing her back into his chest, watching the sunset.
"Well I knew I had you right where I wanted you when you said I had 80's style hair." He protests. She rolls her eyes, laughing.
"Where was that, with me hating you and you not knowing my name?" She points out.
"Long term plan baby. Long term." He hushes her, kissing her neck. She shifts against him grinning.
"Long term plan, huh?" She asks softly. He nods. "And what plan is that now?" She asks, almost dreading the answer.
"Get you to ice. Get through hell week. Kick ass. Pass classes. And win another state ring to put around that pretty little neck of yours." He says, kissing her neck again, rubbing her back.
"And graduate." She adds, raising an eyebrow. He nods, continuing to kiss her neck until she spins around and kisses him.
AN: Summertime! I like thinking about a summer with Tim would be like. Leave reviews pretty pretty please!